the innovative airfit adjustable pillow at special 30% savings. . the syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons, including seron nerve gas against its own people. will this guy give that order? new details ahead. president obama remains firm that the wealthy must pay more, and a few republicans are joining him. pippaisits sister kate, the $8 million man, and nasa's high res look at you on our planet earth. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, december 6th, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. well, this week president obama put syrian leader bashar al assad on notice specifically

about the use of chemical weapons, and now we know why. pentagon sources tell nbc news syria is preparing chemical weapons for their possible use against the syrian people in the form of aerial bombs. >> reporter: as the fighting grows more intense and syrian rebels close in on damascus, the syrian regime has turned increasingly desperate. u.s. officials tell nbc news the syrian military has now loaded the precursor chemicals for seron nerve gas into aerial bombs that could be dropped from dozens of syrian fighter bombers. this week u.s. intelligence detected a flurry of activity at chemical weapons site, like this one near homs. while u.s. officials confirmed the precursor chemicals are loaded and they must be mixed together to get the sarin gas.

president obama and hillary clinton issued strong warning to syria's president bashar al assad. >> it's the point of no return. they're going to lose any sort of backing they had in terms of the chinese and russians. it's a suicide mission. >> reporter: the killing force of sarin nerve gas is devastating. 5,000 kerds were killed in 1988. well, back here at home, fiscal cliff negotiations in washington are still up in the air. most lawmakers have gone home for a long weekend. this, as treasury secretary timothy geithner says the obama administration is willing to go over the fiscal cliff. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington with app update on all of this. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: lynn, not quite empty. a lot of lawmakers on a long weekend break.

take a look at some of the frustrated constituents they'll face. a protest in baltimore over social security, not the check but the jobs. the people who work in the offices who fear there could be super long lines for taxpayers if, in fact, their jobs are cut in all of this. so where do we stand today? there's a hearing today on capitol hill. the joint economic committee hearing on what can be done for the fiscal cliff. treasury secretary timothy geithner says the administration is willing to go over the cliff, let taxes go up, let these taxes happen if republicans press the idea of no tax increases for the wealthy. the latest we've learned, president obama and house speaker john boehner have spoken by phone. no word on what they discussed or whether there are any meetings planned, but just the fact that they're talking seems to be progress these days here on capitol hill. >> we'll take that. tracie potts for us in

washington. tracie, thanks. egypt state television is reporting at least five people were killed in overnight flashes between supporters and opponents of egyptian president mohammed morsi. the street battles were the most violent since egypt's latest crisis erupted two weeks ago where morsi assumed near absolute power. the opposition is vowing more protests later today. this morning, two australian radio hosts are apologizing for a prank call that's getting worldwide attention. it was made to the hospital where kate is being treated for acute morning sick sentencesness. anna bell roberts is with us. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. that's right. the latest on kate's condition is that she will remain in hospital. we're not quite sure for how much longer, but she is said to be doing well and getting a lot of rest, which doctors say is what she really needs. as you say, she's had a number

of visitors, her brother james and sister pippa were both seen at the hospital last night visiting her. plenty of attention on them as they stepped out of the hospital. but the spotlight today is focused on the other side of the world and that has caused it because of these two australian d.j.s who found themselves in the headlines thanks to this prank call. they posed as the queen and prince charles. the receptionist said put them through and put them on the ward where kate is saying. she allegedly gave them an update on kate's condition. have a listen. >> kate, my darling. >> good morning, ma'am. this is vanessa speaking. >> hello, i'm just after my granddaughter kate to see how she's doing. >> some would call that radio gold. the d.j.s themselves have said they were amazed they got through. >> no kidding. it went on to describe some of

her condition in detail. it is unbelievable that they had that much access. anna bell, thanks so much. here's nks meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. i can see you doing something like that. >> it's socially acceptable for the radio d.j.s to do that. >> let's not put that idea out there. >> we'd be in the unl employment line. good morning, everyone. here's what we're looking at this morning. the big weather story is the lack of winter. this snow cover across the country tells the story. right now in the lower 48 only 7% of the country is covered by snow. so record low for this day. of course, these records only go back a couple decades, but you notice where the snow is showed in blue in the rockies. this is a snow line. it's pretty much right along the border of canada. it's hard to find snow in the great lakes and northern new england which is very rare for this time of year. temperatures are much colder.

20 degrees colder on the east coast. we've warmed it up in the midwest. the wind chills will get you something from boston northward where the wind chills are in the teens. in the plains we've warmed it up. as far as bad weather, light rain out there. some snow showers heading through areas of northern wisconsin and northern minnesota. overall, it's an inactive day today. after the cold start new england will warm up to the 40s. that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. we will see a little bit of a chance of rain in the pacific north west. salt lake city, utah, a chance of showers. 49. boston again, very cold afternoon. people in the northeast, you know, we kind of get spoiled with the warm temps. this morning is reality. >> yeah, exactly. we knew it was coming. it's december. we'll take it. bill, thanks so much. there's some good news in the fight against cancer and that cup of starbucks may be a

little more difficult to find. plus, john mcafee is finally in custody. what did he know about the death of his neighbor. why was he fleeing police for three weeks. this is "early today" on nbc.

welcome back. stories making news this morning. "the new york times" reports that the u.s. secretly gave its blessing to armed shipments to rebel groups in libya during the fight against moammar gadhafi, but officials became alarmed that some of the weapons sent may have been turned over to islamic militants. a new congressional report shows wasteful spending of tax money, some of the most head shaking examples include the homeland security department paid for a hog catcher in texas, a fish tank in a small texas town, and an underwater robot in a midwest city with no major lakes or rivers. john mcafee has been arrested in guatemala for presumably entering the country illegally and he has requested

asylum. he has been a fugitive from police in belize since november. a typhoon has caused a lot of damage and 400 people are missing. in new york city a homeless man is facing charges of second degree murder in the death of a man that was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train. naeem davis is being held without bail. we have on at this miss stick news. a study found that women who took tamoxifen for ten years cut the chance of getting breast cancer in half. what goes up must come down. the iphone maker's stock continued to fall in extended hours trading after plunging more than 6% in the regular session for its worst single day decline since 2008. apple is down more than 20%

since its september peak. >> meanwhile, citigroup shot up and it will slash 11,000 jobs. starbucks is expanding expecting to open 3,000 caves over the next five years. a new government commissioned report finds that exporting the nation's new found surplus of natural gas would do the nation good citing the boost would yaet would you domestic prices. an economics team has crunched the numbers and they found that the nation does go over the fiscal cliff, high income call live foreignians would beat out others at nearly 52%. forbes is out with its 2012 most powerful people list and president obama held onto the top spot for a second year. the pope climbed two notches from last year. he landed in fifth place. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg

tumbled from the top ten to 25. meanwhile, former president bill clinton hung on to 50. tim cook was number 35 on the forbes list. finally, this is not a joke, people. though it began as one on facebook. pizza hut in canada has sent more than 100 bottles of pizza scented perfume to facebook fans. the fragrance smells like freshly based hand tossed dough. coming up, newark mayor cory booker lives on food stamps. the nfl steps in for jovan belcher's 4 month old daughter. plus high resolution images from space. it uses techniques that allows the images such as city laws, aur rar ras, wildfires, and moonlight be seen by the naked eye.

stories making news across america on this thursday. in washington state, a 35-year-old relationship was officially legitimized a short time ago as the clock struck 12:00 out west. they became the first same sex couple to receive a marriage license in the evergreen state, a fitting honor for the couple who was featured in the ad

campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. newark new jersey mayor core rebooker is gearing up for his food stamp challenge. he will be on a steady diet of beans and vegetables and whatever else he can afford living on $35 of food stamps. he took on the challenge after getting into a debate with one of his twitter followers. north of the border they suited up for the sled hockey. team u.s.a. earned enough wins for a spot in the semifinals. sports, tipoff in the nba, bobcats, nicks. three seconds left new york's j.r. smith took the in bound pass and hit a fallaway jumper for a 100-98 win over charlotte. in new orleans the lakers kobe bryant scored 29 points to be the only player in nba history to score over 35 points.

los angeles beat new orleans 103-87. nfl wide receiver andre johnson, number 80, took a dozen at risk children on an 80 second shopping spree at toys"r"us. the final bill of almost $20,000 was paid by johnson's charitable foundation. that's great. well, the infant daughter of jovan belcher of the kansas city chiefs will collect at least $1 million from the nfl's surviving child benefit. belcher killed by -- killed the baby's mother, kasandra perkins, and then himself on saturday. for now, disgraced cyclist lance armstrong is holding on to his olympic bronze medal. the olympic committee postponed a decision to strip him of his medals. before a tennis match in london on sunday, they turned out to play mini tennis on ice near the national history museum to promote the event.

just ahead, this year's grammy nominees, and the head cbs honcho weighs in on the angus t. joens. and psy may not be living in his gangnam style video but we'll tell you why he's living the good life. you're watching "early today."

. good thursday morning. your forecast in new england, it's a cold day today. you felt it coming in yesterday. this morning we're in wind

chills in the teens. this afternoon we'll try to get you at least into the low 40s. it will be sunny. sun always makes it feel better. across the midwest we've warmed up considerably. 44 for the high in minneapolis. still very warm. much of texas is still in the 70s. in the friday forecast we start to watch a little changes, colder air trying to push down from the north. warm air to the south. that's what we're going to watch in the ohio valley. rain developing. still no big snowstorms on the way. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. one song is all it takes to become a millionaire. korean rapper psy has raked in more than 8 million bucks. they'll have to see if psy becomes a one hit wonder. the nominees for the 56th grammy awards have been revealed. the top contenders can way west, frank ocean, jay-z, mum ford and sons are up for the coveted album of the year. jazz pea an nas dave rubak

has died at the age of 81. cbs president has finally weighed in on the angus t. jones filth comment saying that compared to charlie sheen, this is a piece of cake. that's an understatement. he added, by the way, jones is still collecting his $300,000 a week paycheck. see, we said he shouldn't -- >> yeah. apologize. and finally jimmy fallon and mariah carey decided to get everyone into the christmas spirit. it worked. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> they're playing that. she has this little zie low phone. >> the rainbow colors? >> yes. >> i have to find that for my kids. i had forgotten about that. >> you haven't gotten one of those. >> worst dad ever. >> well, we've already established that. no, you're the best.

well, this comes to us from wbb 8 nbc 2 in ft. myers, florida, where in nearby cape coral a former firefighter's holiday wish came true. 88-year-old tom egan loved being a new york city firefighter and the 20 year vet relived those memories when a local fire crew agreed to take him for a ride in his truck. dementia has gotten tom some rough days since retiring, but his son believed that this memory will be logged as one of his best days. it's a great opportunity to be able to do something like that when you're at that age and sort of re-live those years of great memories. >> the young guys, they respect the olders, the vets. >> as they should. >> they put their time in on the truck. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. ♪ we were skipping stones and letting go ♪

♪ over the river and down the road ♪

[ female announcer ] at nature valley, we know nature comes together in amazing ways. that's why we bring together natural ingredients, like dark chocolate with toasted oats, or sweet golden honey. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ ♪ i was thinking that i hope this never ends ♪ [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious.

and now, from washington's leading news station, this is "news4 today." >> waking up this thursday morning to a cool change. the temperatures out there today are a lot colder than they were at this time yesterday. we'll find out just how low they're going to go a little later on. good morning, everyone. i'm richard jordan in for aaron gilchrest. >> and i'm eun yang. new this morning, at least one person is in the hospital after a condo fire in alexandria. the flames broke out in south washington street. wii told at least one person was taken to the hospital with burns and smoke inhilation. the cause of the fire is under investigation.

the fire sparked around 8:00 in springfield. the family who lives there wasn't home at the time. the homeowner tells us she's grateful firefighters were able to save what they could. >> i have mixed feelings. on the one hand, my rational side said we'll get through. it's very emotional. they were kind enough to bring my scrapbooks out and i put those in a neighbor's house. so i'm happy about that, because that's what i really cared about, the pictures. >> fortunately, no one was hurt. the family is now staying with friends. this morning, d.c. police are trying to figure out what led to a stabbing in front of the australian embassy. this happened just after 10:00 last night in the 1600 block of rhode island avenue northwest just near scott circle. police tell us a man was stabbed in the side and was conscious and breathing when they arrived. there's no word this morning on that man's condition or a